BRICS: President Ramaphosa Files Confidential Affidavit Ahead Of Putin's Anticipated Visit

President Cyril Ramaphosa has filed a confidential affidavit ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin's anticipated visit to South Africa, for attending the upcoming BRICS summit in August.

Vincent Magwenya, who serves as Presidential spokesperson, confirmed the same on Thursday. He noted that this confidential affidavit was filed because of International Crimes Court (ICC)'s arrest warrant against President Putin.

"The respondents are obliged in terms of international law to keep the interactions with the ICC on the warrant of arrest against President Putin confidential," Magwenya explained, News24 reported. "The ICC requires the fact of the request for cooperation to be kept confidential."

He added, "To date, there has been no relaxation of the requirement of confidentiality by the ICC."

Opposition party Democratic Alliance (DA) leader, John Steenhuisen slammed the president's affidavit, saying that they will argue in court as they want certain information to be public and not everything to be confidential.

"We agreed to them filing the affidavit confidentially but reserved our right to challenge the need for confidentiality once we received the affidavit," he said. "While we accept that certain portions of the affidavit can remain confidential, we do not accept that there is any basis for the majority of the affidavit to be confidential."

He continued, "We will argue that the court should refuse to keep those portions of the affidavit confidential."

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has already issued an arrest warrant against Putin on March 18 and expects South Africa to arrest him if he steps into the country.

President Ramaphosa's affidavit was filed after DA requested the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to issue an order to arrest Putin as soon as he arrives in South Africa for the BRICS summit.

The deadline to answer the high court request was June 23, which the government missed and asked for three days extension. Ramaphosa's confidential affidavit is a response to DA's involvement in Putin's matter, considering South Africa has taken a neutral stance on Russia and Ukraine.

Previously, the Premier of the Western Cape named Alan Winde, who belongs to the DA party, announced that Putin will be arrested if he steps into his province.

"Even in the face of this arrest warrant, the national government has the gall to invite President Putin to a BRICS summit in South Africa, scheduled for later this year," Winde said in April. "This is unacceptable and deplorable."

"If the SA Police Service is unable or unwilling to act, then we must," Winde added.

South Africa and Russia share a diplomatic relationship since 1942. Both countries are part of BRICS, which is an acronym for leading emerging economies in the world, including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.